Beaufort Sea

Largely untarnished by modern industrial development

Canada’s Beaufort Sea offers a magnificent vista of marine habitat largely untarnished by modern industrial development, but North America’s demand for increased domestic fossil fuel supply is creating pressure to drill for oil and gas.

Using new scientific techniques such as satellite-based radio tracking of marine wildlife, researchers are now discovering offshore feeding areas, migratory corridors and glimpsing the vast ranges of ringed seals, beluga, king eider and the endangered bowhead whale .

These animals travel between the Beaufort, Bering and Chukchi Seas, an overarching ecosystem that constitutes one of the 200 most globally significant regions for biodiversity – areas we need to fight hardest to protect.

WWF believes that future major industrial development in the Beaufort should only proceed within the context of the ‘ Conservation First ’ approach.

Protect key marine areas first

A representative network of key marine areas would be reserved before further development, safeguarding key wildlife habitats and culturally significant harvesting areas, while leaving other marine areas open for appropriate industrial activities.

Work with local native communities

WWF staff work directly with communities along the Beaufort coast to form partnerships with local stakeholders. Together, the strong environmental values and local knowledge of the Inuvialuit will be linked with modern conservation science to identify and reserve key marine areas. This will help ensure the continued health of both wildlife and the Inuvialuit culture.

Because of our limited ecological understanding and the risk of causing irreparable ecological damage in the Beaufort Sea, WWF strongly advocates a precautionary approach.

Impact of oil and gas development

Oil and gas development should only be undertaken once adequate habitat conservation measures have been put in place. Marine pollution incidents elsewhere in the world have often had devastating impacts on wildlife and coastal communities. As yet there is no proven means for containing oil and toxic spills in iced waters.